Thirty Minutes
by FactofFiction
Summary: Tali hadn't taken well to being shuffled out of the house only twenty-some minutes after arriving. She had been even less impressed when she discovered that her father wasn't going with her. Tivali Reunion/post-reunion.


Thirty minutes. That's more than enough, right?

_Nah. They need at least an hour. Probably two. _

He squinted up at the sky. It was getting dark. The kid was gonna get hungry soon.

_Thirty minutes it is. They'll live. _

The park wasn't much to look at if he was being honest. Just a few benches, a sandbox, and a sad excuse for a dog park tucked away in the back corner. That's where Tali stood, leaned up against fence watching a German Sheppard chew halfheartedly on a dirty old tennis ball.

"Not Biggs!" She was saying, exasperated, when he approached, "Diggs! Like, dig."

She released the chainlink long enough to pantomime a shovel moving a pile of dirt.

"Because he's a dog? Diggs! Get it?"

To his credit, the maybe five-year-old boy standing beside her really did seem like he was trying to get it, "You know that dog?"

"Not that dog! The dog in the movie!" She watched as the boy's face scrunched in confusion, "Nevermind! Point is: Diggs works for the police. Like my daddy used to."

"Your daddy was a…" The look of shame was on the kid's face before he even voiced it, "Dog?"

Tali threw her hands in the air, letting out a groan of frustration to rival that of the most jaded adults, "Forget it!"

Then she turned on her heel, coming to face Gibbs as if she'd known he was behind her the whole time.

She probably did. She _was_ part Ziva.

"Have _you _seen Cats & Dogs, Mr. Gibbs?"

Her tone was startlingly familiar, and it was enough to make him waver.

"Uh… no. Can't say that I have."

She nodded as if that was the answer she had been expecting.

"I have it on DVD. Aba put it in my go-bag before we got on the plane."

Gibbs smiled because, well, how couldn't he, "Oh yeah?"

She nodded, more enthusiastically than before.

"Guess we'll have to watch it later."

Her triumphant smile was an eerily perfect mix of both his former agents, "Perfect! You'll like it."

He ducked his head, both submission to her will and a confirmation that yeah, he'd probably like it. If only because she said he would.

"Mr. Gibbs worked for the police, too-" She stopped when a cursory glance over her shoulder revealed that her previous conversation partner had since scrambled his way back to the sandbox. Then with a shrug and a sigh, she turned to watch the dog.

"Ready to head back?"

"Did my daddy call?" She looked up at him under impossibly thick eyelashes, excitement dripping from her words.

Tali hadn't taken well to being shuffled out of the house only twenty-some minutes after arriving. She had been even less impressed when she discovered that her father wasn't going with her. The two of them were very close, that much was obvious. And between the long plane ride, the unfamiliar surroundings, and the sudden appearance of her mother whom she hadn't seen in over half her life, the nearly seven-year-old had been particularly reluctant to leave Tony's side.

But she had played along. Let Gibbs lead her through foreign streets to a little neighborhood park where they sat in dead silence for 10 minutes until she wandered off to make friends with the other kids.

Her reluctance was understandable. Her compliance was surprising. And for that, he felt the need to make her smile.

"Just did. Asked when we'd be home."

"What'd you tell him?"

"Said it was up to you."

She looked away again, nodding slowly as if weighing her decision.

"We should probably head back. I wouldn't want to make him wait."

And she was away from the fence, walking in the general direction they had originally come from before he had a chance to say anything more.

That was pretty much how the walk back to his house went. She led. He followed a few steps behind. Every intersection they approached, he prepared himself to correct her course, and yet she always turned in the right direction.

_Kid with a photographic memory. Only DiNozzo and David. _

It must have been that, the consistent silence as she expertly navigated the completely new territory, that made it so surprising to him when she finally spoke up.

"You like dollies, Mr. Gibbs?"

Well. How was he supposed to answer that?

"Not really my thing. And you can call me Jethro."

She glanced back at him over one shoulder with a tiny smirk that couldn't belong to anybody but her father.

"Jethro," She sounded out his new name slowly, "I like that. You can call me T. Like Aba does."

It was several more paces before she spoke again, "My daddy tells me you like wood."

"Yeah. I guess I do."

"And you like to make things with it?"

"Mhm."

"So… in theory… if you were to make, say, a Doll House…"

He had to laugh to himself.

"Wouldn't have much use for a Doll House."

"Right," She looked back at him again, "So if you happened to make one… and you didn't need it…"

"I guess I'd have to find someone to take it off my hands."

A smug little nod, "I could take it. You know, if you wanted me to."

_Note to self: this kid is dangerous._

_Other note to self: find room in the basement to start building a dollhouse._

"Appreciate that."

She faced forward once again, resuming her casual pace as the fencing of his front yard came into view.

It wasn't until they were standing right in front of the fence that she stopped and spoke again.

"Jethro?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think my Ima's gonna leave again?"

He paused, hand dangling awkwardly above the gate as he looked down at the small girl standing beside him.

She was advanced for her age. Well-spoken (in exactly three languages, he might add). Well behaved. Smart. But on top of that, she was _wise_. Far beyond her years. Far beyond _his _years, it seemed. Her eyes, nearly piercing in the dim twilight, held the maturity of a hundred, even thousands of lives past. It wasn't pain. It wasn't melancholy. It was just… comprehension. She understood things, things a child her age should never understand. Should never have to. And yet, here she is.

So he bent down, resting one knee against the pavement so he could comfortably be parallel with those timeless eyes.

"I think…" He tugged on her ponytail gently, causing the spiral curls to bounce at the base of her neck (and a little smile to form on her face), "That your mom loves you. A lot."

"And?"

"And…" He gestured toward his front door, "I think she's in there right now. Missing you. Like she has been since the day she left."

Tali's face fell ever so slightly as he seemed to beat around the bush, "And?"

So he shrugged, smirking as he pushed himself off the ground and turned back toward the gate, "And I think you're stuck with her. Forever. Not letting you go again."

The gate was open, waiting for her to walk through when she gave a little smile and a nod.

"I can live with that."

And then she was in the lead again, practically bouncing up the walkway and through the front door.

If the appearance of the inside of the house surprised her, she didn't show it. In fact, by the time Gibbs had caught up and made it inside himself, she was already crouched down next to her Elsa backpack, likely in pursuit of that DVD she mentioned earlier.

However, the inside of his house certainly surprised _him_. Or, at least it really should have, because it was quite startling.

For starters, the lamp in the living room was knocked over. And completely shattered. Then a row of books seemed to have been ripped right off the shelf. The fireplace screen was leaning peculiarly against the stone of the structure, and the antennas of the TV were pushed all the way to one side, as if someone had almost landed on it. A few more steps into the room revealed that the dining room table, which had been covered in luggage when they left, was now empty with the cloth bunched awkwardly on one side of it.

Had they gotten in a fight?

Gibbs stepped around the corner and into the dining room proper where he found a piece of navy blue material tossed carelessly in the corner.

_Damn kids. _

"Hey, Jethro!" Tali called from the living room, "I found the movie!"

"Right on ya, Kid. My players upstairs, let me just-"

"No need! Aba packed one," She held up her backpack like a trophy.

"Right… uh…" There was a slight creak by the stairs, and four blue eyes snapped in the direction of the sound to find Ziva descending them hesitantly.

"Um…hello," She made her way into the living room slowly, as if afraid to break the quiet.

The earlier reunion of mother and daughter had been… anticlimactic. To say the least. Ziva had bent down, Tali gave her a weak hug, and then she asked Tony if he had remembered to pack her crayons because she wanted to color. That was basically it.

If only her parents had reacted to seeing each other in such a composed manner.

"Tony is… I mean, Aba is taking a shower," She tugged on the hem of her sweater as she spoke, a distinctly _un-Ziva-like_ gesture, "He will be down in a few minutes."

"Good!" Tali exclaimed, "Then he won't miss much. He doesn't really like watching the opening credits anyway."

She raised her bag higher in the air as if signaling it was about time someone took it off her hands.

Gibbs was the first to reach her, "How about you get settled on the couch and start coloring while your mom and I get this set up for ya."

Tali shrugged, pivoting around and finding the spot on the sofa where she had left her book and crayons earlier.

Then he turned, walking back into the dining room and setting the backpack on the table. He felt more than heard Ziva come in behind him.

"You and DiNozzo get things figured out?"

She sighed, resting a hand on the back of one of the chairs while he rifled through the bag, "I would not say we _figured out_ anything. But we have come to a bit of an… agreement."

"Yeah?"

"Yes," She looked over his shoulder then, no doubt watching her little girl doodle, "Feelings aside, we have to do what is best for our daughter. And the best thing is, at least for now, to live together as a family. To work on _healing _as a family."

He nodded, producing a black box with a myriad of chords hanging off the back of it, "Yeah. Makes sense."

She met his eyes once again and something in them seemed to break, "Tony is angry. Very angry."

"Can you blame him?"

"No," She was looking behind him again, "I'm just afraid that…"

"That if the whole family unit thing doesn't work out, he might try to take her away?"

Her corresponding nod was small, almost as if she was embarrassed to be thinking like that.

"Look, Ziver. I can't guarantee it won't happen."

She was looking up at him again, eyes wide in a near panic.

"But I can damn near guarantee that you won't give it a chance to happen. If anybody can go through all of this and come out the other side as functional co-parents, it's you two."

She nodded again, and this one wasn't nearly as embarrassed.

"Besides, angry sex can be a powerful thing. And you've clearly already figured _that part _out."

Her mouth popped open at about the same time her face turned positively red.

"How did you-"

He chuckled, "If you don't want people to know what you're up to…" The black box was discarded as he pointed a meaningful finger toward the navy garment in the corner, "You should really clean up your mess."

She followed his finger until she realized what he was getting at, then she quickly shuffled over to pick up the bra and shove it into the front pocket of DiNozzo's suitcase on the ground.

"Hey," He reached a hand up to tousle her hair gently, "I'm happy for ya, kid. If anyone deserves a second chance, it's you and DiNozzo."

She smiled up at him, momentarily reminding him that he once thought that smile was gone forever, "Thank you, Gibbs. We aren't going to waste it."

"I know you won't," He pulled her close so he could press a kiss to her temple.

When he pulled back, her eyes were more than a little misty, and she wiped at them halfheartedly.

"I should probably set this up, yes?" She gestured toward the DVD player.

"Probably for the best. I'll grab some dinner. She like Chinese?"

Ziva opened her mouth as if to answer, but a deeper voice in the doorway beat her to it.

"Tali loves Chinese. Princess chicken. No surprise there," DiNozzo smiled as he twisted around to look at his daughter, "Right, T?"

The little girl nodded enthusiastically from her spot on the sofa, crayon still busy creating whatever masterpiece she'd thought up.

"Chinese it is, then," Gibbs shot Ziva one final wink before taking his leave to go grab the food.

And because he was curious, he lingered around the front porch, peeking inside of the pane glass window to see what the newly reunited family was up to.

Tony ended up being dealt the task of setting up the movie, while Ziva quickly swept her way through the living room and righted all of the mess from their evening of passion. Once everything was back in place (save for the lamp) she seemed to start some kind of conversation with Tali as she rounded the coffee table and came to sit on the recliner. Then DiNozzo finished up with the player and the small screen in the corner started playing video of what looked to be a spaniel standing on its hind legs and taking photos. Tony then rounded the coffee table himself to take a spot on the couch where Tali happily cuddled into his fresh t-shirt. And just when Gibbs was about to turn to walk away, he noticed a little head poke over the top of the couch, and then Ziva was carefully removing herself from the chair and coming around to sit on the opposite side of the six-year-old. And while, sure, the girl remained mostly huddled against her father's form, it seemed to be her version of an olive branch.

Now _that _was what he called progress.

Turns out, thirty minutes was plenty of time.

* * *

**Hi, Y'all. **

**This little baby came out of left field. I sat down at my desk to do an assignment and the next thing I knew this existed. **

**I will say the inspiration came from Tumblr again. Someone talked about Tiva having angsty reunion sex and someone else said that Gibbs would probably have to take Tali for a walk and well ta-duh. **

**Big distinction: this is a stand-alone one-shot and has nothing to do with any other reunion fics that I have or will post (unless later specified). **

**Also, know this: I have been playing around with my Chaval outline lately so just know I haven't given up on it. I love that story, and I just want to do it justice. **

**Oh yeah: and please hit me with the reviews! I didn't mention reviews in my last a/n and I noticed that I got way fewer than I normally do so... yeah... give me the feedback. I love knowing what you like and what you don't like. It will only make me a better writer. And hopefully, give you better fics in the future. **

**so yes: REVIEWS! and THANKS FOR READING! yea.**


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